opinion article

How Public Scrutiny of Power is Becoming the Power to Scrutinise the Public

By Sean Bell Demands for transparency are central to the current culture of public debate. Climate scientists and their associations, the former English football captain,…

A Thankless Nation

By Sabreen Maryam Ali To read the morning newspaper in Britain today is to trudge through reams of dissent and disapproval with a worldly air…

The Middle of Nowhere – Opinion Piece

By David Birch I tend to arrive in Stratford at night; the Jubilee brings me in, the Central takes me out. These days as I…

How Copyright Broke

By Cory Doctorow (Originally published in Locus Magazine, September, 2006) The theory is that if the Internet can’t be controlled, then copyright is dead. The…

Facebook’s Faceplant

By Cory Doctorow (Originally published as “How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers will Kill Facebook,” in InformationWeek, November 26, 2007) Facebook’s “platform” strategy has sparked much online…

Happy Meal Toys versus Copyright: How America Chose Hollywood and Wal-Mart, and Why it’s Doomed Us, and How We Might Survive Anyway

By Cory Doctorow (Originally published as “How Hollywood, Congress, and DRM are Beating Up the American Economy,” InformationWeek, June 11, 2007) Back in 1985, the…

Direct and Indirect Causality

Many of the arguments that turn up in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement—between people who apparently should agree—are because of a difference…

Sample Article on Collective Living

By Nicholas Klacsanzky The individualistic way of thinking, that we must seek out what is most pleasurable to us and do our best to attain…

Atheism and Beyond Dogma

Atheism is not a belief, as many uninformed religious and even intellectual people propose (Christina, 2010). Yet, atheism can be said to be on the…

Why it is Okay to Eat Animals and Not Care Much About Nature

It is not a secret that nowadays a lot of activists, volunteers, and enthusiasts are seeking ways to make our world a better place. Sometimes…

Haiku and Meditation

(Haiku is a Japanese style of poetry considered to be the smallest form of poetry in the world. Traditionally, it is written in 17 syllables,…

Eurovision is Overrated

Entertainment—all kinds of shows, music projects, movies, video games, and so on—is an unlimited source of profit. Perhaps, this is why this sphere can boast…

Being a Poet is Easier than You Think

The common populace believes poetry is beyond them. They have jammed the thought in their brains that poetry is a highfalutin art form designed for…